Development, expansion and upgrading of electrical distribution networks is a necessary yet costly endeavor for companies that distribute electricity to consumers. When such a company becomes aware of a need for the development, expansion or upgrading of an electricity distribution network a great deal of preparation must be undertaken before the network can be expanded. Specifically, it must be determined how the new or upgraded service will be integrated into the existing network, if in existence. In addition, a protection and control (“P&C”) scheme needs developed for the new assets (circuit breakers, transformers, etc.).
Existing electricity distribution networks have permanent buildings in place to monitor and control their assets. When expanding into a new geographic region, there are no such structures. Thus, a permanent structure must be purchased and retrofitted for the new purpose. Either option creates considerable cost and requires relying on local contractors who may or may not be familiar with the particular needs and business practices of the electricity distributor.
Traditionally, power utilities design P&C systems tailored around each piece of major equipment (i.e, transformer, circuit breaker, capacitor, transmission line, etc.) in a substation. The traditional methodology was efficient for smaller, less complex transmission networks and required a small knowledge-based workforce to commission and maintain the system, although it did require time consuming field integration and installation period. As transmission networks have expanded in complexity and project volume, as well as a greater demand on availability and reliability being placed on the system, the traditional method is falling short. In addition, mergers and acquisitions between utility companies, and the addition of networks has only added to complexity and challenges facing P&C engineers working to install new systems or to retrofit or upgrade existing systems. Accordingly, the knowledge-base required to maintain the complexity of each system has increased substantially, as every company and network carried over 100 years of unique practices, processes, and methodologies.
The traditional method to get a substation control building operational also requires working around a stringent transmission system outage window mostly driven by regulatory governing bodies. This requires a complex coordination among all stakeholders planning, engineering, operations, field engineering, etc., within an organization to effectively execute the P&C asset installation and replacement project on time. However, the traditional methodology is no longer feasible. This shift in utility business environment is driven largely by a need to address the aging infrastructure, the future of reliability compliance, grid security, remote monitoring, increased penetration of supervisory control (SCADA) required either the over-expansion of the organization or the introduction of innovative methods.
Moreover, this scenario falls victim to the industry problem of “over-engineering” an original P&C asset structure. That is, previously, companies with P&C assets had to project potential P&C needs as much as 40 years out and purchase and design their assets to meet this estimated need—often resulting in significant upfront costs and wasted assets where the demand never reached these projections. This approach was ineffective as it was easy to over/under-engineer for anticipated future expansion. Many times over-engineered assets would go unused as future expansion was never realized. Also, under-engineered assets could not support future expansion and new buildings would need to be installed, or costly renovations would be needed for the original structure. Consequently, there is a need for a substation that can bridge new and existing technologies, is easily expandable, and provides for a uniform implementation of P&C schemes.